Symptoms And Characteristics Of Cancer

Register to read the introduction… This may cause accumulation of errors rapidly in the cell and its progeny. * Those in signaling (endocrine) machinery of the cell. This leads transmission of the error signals to nearby healthy cells as well. * Those that allow the cells to migrate and disrupt more healthy cells away from the primary site of origin. * Those that make the cell immortal so that the abnormal cell refuses to die. Hormonal changes Notable among these are changes in the female hormone levels estrogen. Excess estrogen promotes uterine cancer. Immune system dysfunction Impaired immunity including HIV infection leads to several cancers including Kaposi's sarcoma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and HPV-associated malignancies such as anal cancer and cervical cancer. 6.Cancer Symptoms Cancers are a group of hundreds of different diseases and affect various organs of the body. Cancer symptoms depend on the stage of cancer, the grade of cancer, whether it has spread to other organs, the general health, age and condition of the patient and numerous other factors. Types of cancer symptom Broadly the symptoms of cancer can be divided into the following groups: Local symptoms This includes the symptoms at the primary site of cancer. This may be a lump or tumor, pain, bleeding, ulcers or sores over the skin, pressure over the surrounding organs, hoarseness or cough that does not go away, obvious changes in a wart or a mole, changes in bladder or bowel habits, difficulty in swallowing etc. Systemic symptoms This includes symptoms of the generalized body as a whole. Most of these are common for all types of cancer. These include weight loss, poor appetite, fatigue and wasting (known as cancer cachexia), excessive sweating especially at nights (night sweats), hormonal changes, anemia, bleeding tendencies due to deficiency of platelets (thrombocytopenia) etc. Symptoms of spread of cancer or metastasis This includes swelling of the nearing lymph …show more content…
Classification by site of origin By primary site of origin, cancers may be of specific types like breast cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer, liver cancer renal cell carcinoma (kidney cancer), oral cancer,brain cancer etc. Classification by tissue types The international standard for the classification and nomenclature of histologies is the International Classification of Diseases for Oncology, Third Edition (ICD-O-3). This classification is based on the ICD-O-3. Based on tissue types cancers may be classified into six major categories: 1. Carcinoma This type of cancer originates from the epithelial layer of cells that form the lining of external parts of the body or the internal linings of organs within the body. Carcinomas, malignancies of epithelial tissue, account for 80 to 90 percent of all cancer cases since epithelial tissues are most abundantly found in the body from being present in the skin to the covering and lining of organs and internal passageways, such as the gastrointestinal tract. Carcinomas usually affect organs or glands capable of secretion including breast, lungs, bladder, colon and prostate. Carcinomas are of two types – adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. Adenocarcinoma develops in an organ or gland and squamous cell carcinoma originates in squamous epithelium. Adenocarcinomas may affect mucus membranes and are first seen as a thickened plaque-like white mucosa. These are rapidly spreading cancers. 2. Sarcoma These cancers originate in connective and supportive tissues including muscles, bones,cartilage and fat. Bone cancer is one of the sarcomas termed osteosarcoma. It affects the young most commonly. Sarcomas appear like the tissue in which they grow. Other examples include chondrosarcoma (of the cartilage), leiomyosarcoma (smooth muscles), rhabdomyosarcoma (skeletal muscles), Mesothelial sarcoma or mesothelioma(membranous lining of